Protecting Social Security

Floor Speech

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Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Madam Speaker, I rise to address the body on Social Security.

Madam Speaker, as we speak, we are at war. We are at war with a global pandemic, a global pandemic that has swept across many nations, including our own, where we have now lost more than a million people. Madam Speaker, 756,000-plus are over the age of 65.

Madam Speaker, these are also the individuals who are most dependent during these times because they are on a fixed income and are most impacted by inflation.

Madam Speaker, this war will continue because there is another wave of omicron coming our way called BA.2.75 that will land here sometime in the fall and all the more reason that we have a plan to address this. Our plan is to make sure that we assist our seniors who are most in need. So we reach out to our colleagues on the other side and ask them to join us in expanding Social Security benefits. Congress, that has the sole responsibility to do this, hasn't done it in 51 years.

Madam Speaker, when you go back home to your district in which on average 145,000 people in your district are on Social Security, they need our help now. It is what Martin Luther King called the fierce urgency of now: now because we are in the midst of COVID, now because there is another more deadly wave on its way and the groups impacted the most are our senior citizens and our veterans. As everyone knows, Social Security not only is a pension plan, it is spousal and dependent coverage, and more veterans rely on Social Security than they do on the VA, and they are in need of our help.

Congress as an institution hasn't acted in 51 years to enhance a program. Madam Speaker, as you know, a gallon of milk cost 72 cents in 1971, and Richard Nixon was President of the United States. That is how long it has been since Congress has acted. We can no longer kick the can down the road. We are at war. We are at war with a virus that is attacking our people. They need our help, and they need our response. During war, we come together as a body and we roll up our sleeves.

We have a plan that will extend those benefits. Republicans have put forward three concepts and ideas. One is the Republican Study plan that cuts Social Security across the board by 21 percent with the idea that people are living longer so we should boost the age. For every year you raise the age, that is a 7 percent cut. The plan here says you have a new plan that says you work until you die, for God's sake. This cannot stand.

Senator Scott has proposed a plan for Social Security that ends it in 5 years, and Mr. Biggs, before our committee, testified that Social Security ought to be privatized.

We say: None of the above.

Join us in expanding benefits to people who need them the most and to people who are impacted the most. These are your brothers, your sisters, your mothers and fathers, your aunts and uncles, the people you worship with, and your coworkers. That is who Social Security impacts, more than 65 million Americans currently, and with 10,000 baby boomers a day becoming eligible for Social Security the time to act is now. We cannot kick this can down the road.

We have a markup pending in the Ways and Means Committee to get this bill to the floor, and the sooner we vote on it the better. This is something where Democrats and Republicans should join together. Social Security is the most efficient and effective government program. It is run with under 1 percent administrative cost. I come from the insurance capital of the world. Any insurance company would love to have a 99 percent loss ratio.

Madam Speaker, come together and join us to protect Social Security.

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